Mark Kolke visits with interesting Calgarians - to catch a glimpse of what drives them, how they see the world and what they see in Calgary's future - and shares what caught his attention.
This week's conversation with Mark Salkeld , Pres. & CEO at PSAC
+ IKEA agreed to purchase a new 7.65 megawatt wind farm under construction in Ireland. No word on whether assembly or Allan keys are required. The vendor, Mainstream Renewable Power will operate it for IKEA on a 20 yr. contract
QUOTES
“If you can count your money, you don’t have a billion dollars.” – J. Paul Getty
“I think it is just terrible and disgusting how everyone has treated Lance Armstrong, especially after what he achieved, winning seven Tour de France races while on drugs. When I was on drugs, I couldn't even find my bike." - Willie Nelson
SAVE THE DATE /
charity golf tournaments
+ Aug. 15; Ordinary Joe’s Country Golf Tournament, Sirocco Golf Club, info/registration
+ Aug. 20; Alberta Venture’s 2013 Most Influential Tournament, Silvertip Golf Resort, Canmore, info/register
+ Aug. 26; Women’s Celebrity Golf Invitational, Pinebrook Golf and Country Club, info/registration
+ DisasterRecoveryCenter opened in HighRiver to assist flood impacted residents accessing services and support for recovery – located at WelcomeCenter in HighRiver
+ Genesis Land Development Corp. postponed its AGM due to litigation launched by dissident shareholder Smoothwater Capital Corp … perhaps not so smooth; Genesis special committee chair Bill Pringle issued a rebuke – stay tuned
+ Hungerford Properties acquiring 761,000 sq. ft.HaworthBuilding (former SMED headquarters); will be redeveloped as multi-tenant building. Haworth will lease back part of the building and set up a showroom downtown
+ JP Morgan woes continue and compound: SEC taking issue with records altering to disguise trading losses, admitting to civil and criminal actions against it on shoddy mortgage securities on top of recent commodity trading scandals . . tic toc ..
+ PanTerra Resource Corp. closed final tranche of its $3,396,488 sale of Carrot Creek Cardium assets
+ TD Bank Group announced it has secured the AEROPLAN rights from Amia; CIBC issued a release that essentially says ‘not so fast’ … changes, of some sort, will take place Dec. 31/2013 and it seems this tussle is far from over as CIBC struggles to retain at least a portion of the customer base
+ TransCanada Corporation’s NOVA Gas Transmission Ltd. reached a settlement with its shippers for 2013 and 2014 revenue on the NGTL system
+ Athabasca Oil Corp. equipment destined for Hangingstone oilsands project is stalled in Idaho port awaiting transport – protest by several groups holding up shipment similar to delays on Imperial Oil/Kearl modules
+ bond outlook – according to Bill Gross; possibly a good read, possibly just hype to stem the flow of investor client redemptions in recent months . . . stay tuned
+ Brion Energy (JV of Athabasca Oil Corp. & PetroChina Co.) got regulatory approval for its Dover Commercial Project
+ Edleun Group Inc. changed is name to Brightpath Early Learning Inc.
+ Galvanic Applied Sciences Inc. closed its deal – takeover by 1756349 Alberta Ltd.
+ Hellman & Friedman LLC agreed to take over Hub International Inc., US$ 4.4 billion
+ Imperial Oil Resources and ExxonMobil Canada agreed to acquire ConoocoPhillips interest in the Clyden oil sands lease for $751 million; Imperial to hold 27.5%, ExxonMobil to hold 72.5%
+ International Energy Agency says OPEC is weakened by North America shale boom, while several OPEC members struggling to maintain production levels due to political unrest, infrastructure problems and a more competitive world market
+ Inter Pipeline Fund agreed to build a pipeline and facilities to transport diluent and bitumen from CNRL’s Kirby South site to the Cold Lake pipeline system; 82,000 barrels/day of combined volume; capital costs $95 million
+ Inter Pipeline Fund to invest $45 million to expand capacity of of its Polaris Pipeline system to serve Imperial Oil’s Kearl oil sands project to support increased need for diluent transportation
+ Keystone XL project got a boost; U.S. regulators received a report indicating refiners, in the event Keystone XL did not proceed, would replace bitumen supply with Venezuelan heavy crude with comparable environmental impacts
+ Maxim Power Corp agreed to sell 5 power plants in the U.S., $112 million
+ Pembina Pipeline Corporation to construct $110 million shallow cut gas plant and gathering system near its Cutbank project to extract propane-plus (C3+)
+ REALpac 3rd qtr. report indicates Canadian commercial real estate confidence is waning
+ Rock Energy Inc. increased its 2013 CapEx Budget from $12 million to $42 million
+ SNC-Lavalin awarded contract to do engineering and procurement for Phase 3A of MEG’ Energy’s Christina LakeRegional SAGD project
+ Sunshine Oilsands Ltd. started a strategic review to enhance shareholder value; also issued a $300 million cash call on JV owners – China Investment Corp. and Sinopec
+ TransCanada Corporation (via NOVA Gas Transmission Ltd.) to proceed with $1.5 billion pipeline – North Montney Mainline – for shipper Progress Energy Canada Ltd. , and to connect with TransCanada’s Prince Rupert Gas Transmission project to supply Pacific NorthWest LNG export facility
+ U.S. Department of Energy gave approval to its 3rd LNG export terminal; BG Group PLC et al .. for Lake Charles, Louisiana( total of 5.6 billion cubic ft./day approved in 3 projects to date)
+ Calgary City Hall/Municipal Building complex is running on generators with only 1,100 of 2,400 staff working from the building – the rest are still working from home or other locations as repairs to flood damaged lower levels of the building continue . . . estimated that normal operations will return by early to mid-September …
+ Infrastructure Ontario issued RFQ to build and finance the Casey House facility replacement project – renovating a heritage structure and building a new 48.000 sq. ft. facility; on the St. Michael’s Hospital expansion, and RFP was issued to 3 short-listed consortia: St. Michael’s Partnership, Integrated Team Solutions and PCL Partnerships
+ HighRiverHospital emergency department re-opened in a phased approach to restoration of services
+ HighRiver residents dislocated by the flood began taking up residence in Saddlebrook temporary housing project; 400 so far, capacity is 1,200 when complete
+ Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development committed to funding riverbank and channel restoration ($20 million) for southern Alberta creeks and rivers
+ Highway 22X / Marquis of Lorne bridge over Macleod Trail being widened (finally!) from 2 lanes to 4; project cost is $4 million, to be completed by October. At a later date, when 22X is widened to 6 lanes, a new interchange ($20-30 million) will be built, but that is unlikely before a solution is found for the SW section of the ring road route is resolved
+ Granite REIT closed its US$ 21.0 million acquisition of Cincinnati logistics-distribution facility; they also agreed to acquire €129 million portfolio in Germany and Netherlands
+ John Hancock (U.S. div. of Manulife Financial) acquired Landmark Square in Long Beach, CA from Brookfield Office Properties for US$ 135.5 million
+ Blackstone Group LP is shopping its La Quinta hotel chain for sale at US$4.5 billion vs. doing an IPO … stay tuned
+ HealthLease Properties REIT agreed to acquire another development property from Mainstreet Property Group; 100 unit new seniors housing and assisted living property Hendricks County, Indiana for appraised value, $17,130,000
